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Police Academy The call went out. The recruits came in. No longer would police cadets have to meet standards of height weight or other requirements. Brains were optional too. Can't spell IQ? Don't know the number 911? No matter. Police Academy grads are ready to uphold law and disorder! Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment When the newly graduated misfits in blue tangle with these pinheaded punks the result is an open-and-shut case of nonstop hilarity!. Steve Guttenberg George Gaynes and other Police Academy originals return to the roll call: it's a riot (a laugh-riot) in the streets! Police Academy 3: Back In Training A budget crisis has decreed that only one of the state's two cop schools can survive so the race is on to see which academy can avoid the axe by turning out the superior force. Mahoney Hightower Tackleberry Jones Hooks and Callahan - led by eternally befuddled Cmdt. Lassard (George Gaynes) - mobilize hilariously in their alma mater's defense. You have the right to remain silent - but you'll end up howling! Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol Cmdt. Lassard (Gaynes) decides to toughen up Neighborhood Watch groups by training them to be Citizens On Patrol or COPs. And guess who the instructors are? The same grads who thought the Fs on their own report card meant Fantastic. Leave it to our hapless heroes to save the day by taking to the skies on biplanes and balloons for a frantic finale. All aboard! Police Academy 5: Assignment - Miami Beach Our badge-carrying bunglers are in Miami for a convention honoring Cmdt. Lassard. But crime doesn't take a vacation even if our heroes do. So join your armed and hilarious favorites. If there's a 'Most Wanted' List for laughter these loony coppers have just gotta be on it! Police Academy 6: City Under Siege A mysterious Mr. Big is the mastermind behind a gang that robs banks and jewelers. Solving the case won't take a mastermind just an arsenal of gags and goofiness in the fun Police Academy tradition! Police Academy 7: Mission To Moscow Addled Cmdt. Lassard motor-mouth Jones gun fanatic Tackleberry curvaceous Callahan and human steam vent Harris join forces with Moscow's Chief of Police (Christopher Lee) and an icy-as-a-tundra translator (Claire Forlani). They take on the Godfather of the Russian mob (Ron Perlman) whose computer program plays like a video game but can actually steal money or goods planetwide without a trace. Prepare to kick some buttski!

From practically the first episode, broadcast in 1989, The Simpsons impacted on planet TV like a giant multi-coloured meteor. With a claim to being the defining pop cultural phenomenon of the 1990s--hip, fast, sharp and primary--there was nothing even in rock & roll to match this. The Simpsons is possibly the greatest sitcom ever made. Although the animation was initially primitive, never before had cartoon characters been so well drawn. There had been loveable middle-aged layabouts on TV before, but Homer Simpson successfully stole their crown and out-slobbed them all in every department ("The guys at the plant are gonna have a field day with this," he grumbles in "Call of The Simpsons" as he watches scientists on a TV news item who can't decide whether he is incredibly dense or a brilliant beast). However, in this first series he isn't quite yet the bloated man-child he would become in later series; instead he's a growling patriarch with a Walter Matthau-type voice. His sensible half Marge's croak, meanwhile, has yet to settle down, while the vast cast of minor Springfield characters have yet to find their place. Bart, however, was a smash from the start: dumb as Homer but spiky-haired and resourceful, he sets out his manifesto in "Bart the Genius"; while "Moaning Lisa" spotlights his over-achieving sister and is a good early example of the series' clever handling of melancholy bass notes. Throughout its life there's always been confusion as to whether The Simpsons is a show for kids or adults, but with allusions in these first 13 episodes to Kubrick, Diane Arbus, Citizen Kane and (in a very satisfyingly anti-French episode) Manon des Sources, it should already have been clear that this was a programme for all ages and all IQs from 0 to 200. Dysfunctional they may have been, but the Simpsons stuck together, and audiences stuck with them into the 21st century. --David Stubbs On the DVD: The packaging is good but the 13 episodes are spread very thinly here, with just five each on discs one and two . The commentary track is intermittently interesting though a tad repetitive, as creator David Groening is joined by various other members of the team. The third disc has some neat extra stuff, including outtakes, the original Tracey Ullman Show shorts and a five-minute BBC documentary, but is again fairly brief. The menu interfaces are pretty clunky, annoyingly forcing you to watch endless copyright warnings after each episode and with no facility to "play all". The content is wonderful, of course, but three discs looks like overkill. --Mark Walker

Ted As the result of a childhood wish John Bennett&amp;#39;s teddy bear Ted came to life and has been by John&amp;#39;s side ever since - a friendship that&amp;#39;s tested when Lori John&amp;#39;s girlfriend of four years wants more from their relationship. Ted 2 Newlywed couple Ted and Tami-Lynn want to have a baby but in order to qualify to be a parent Ted will have to prove he&amp;#39;s a person in a court of law.

On The Buses: Stan's job is secure as bus drivers are hard to come by and his overtime prospects are good until the bus company decide to revoke a long standing rule and employ women bus drivers. Aghast at the thought of no overtime and therefore less wages he joins forces with his long time work colleague Jack to sabotage the new female employees. (Dir. Harry Booth 1971) Mutiny On The Buses: Bus driver Stan Butler agrees to marry Suzy much to the anguish of Mum her son-in-law Arthur and her daughter Olive. How they wonder will they ever manage without Stan's money coming in? Arthur learns to drive a bus and Stan blackmails the Depot Manager into giving him the job of driver on the new money-making Special Tours Bus. A great idea if only the inspector hadn't taken Stan on his trial run to Windsor Safari Park! (Dir. Harry Booth 1972) Holiday On The Buses: A small matter of three crashed buses one piece of mutilated council property and a written off car belonging to the Bus Depot Manager adds up to instant dismissal for Stan Jack and Inspector Blakey. Jack and Stan think that all is saved when they find work in a Welsh holiday camp running the camps transport. Then they discover that Blakey has been installed as Camp Security Inspector! (Dir. Bryan Izzard 1973)

The second best comedy ever made, Monty Python and the Holy Grail must give precedence only to the same team's masterpiece, The Life of Brian (1979). Even though most of this film's set-pieces are now indelibly inscribed in every Python fan's psyche, as if by magic they never seem to pall. And they remain endlessly, joyfully quotable: from the Black Knight ("It's just a flesh wound"), to the constitutional peasants ("Come and see the violence inherent in the system!") and the taunting French soldier ("Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"). Not forgetting of course the migratory habits of European and African swallows... The film's mock-Arthurian narrative provides a sturdy framework for the jokes, and the authentic-looking production design is relentlessly and gloriously dirty. The miniscule budget turns out to be one of the film's greatest assets: Can't afford horses? Use coconuts instead. No money for special effects? Let Terry Gilliam animate. And so on, from Camelot ("it's only a model") to the rampaging killer rabbit glove puppet. True it's let down a little by a rushed ending, and the jokes lack the sting of Life of Brian's sharply observed satire, but Holy Grail is still timeless comedy that's surely destined for immortality. On the DVD: Disc One contains a digitally remastered anamorphic (16:9) print of the film--which is still a little grainy, but a big improvement on previous video releases--with a splendidly remixed Dolby 5.1 soundtrack (plus an added 24 seconds of self-referential humour "absolutely free"!). There are two commentaries, one with the two Terrys, co-directors Jones and Gilliam, the other a splicing together of three separate commentaries by Michael Palin, John Cleese (in waspish, nit-picking mood) and Eric Idle. A "Follow the Killer Rabbit" feature provides access either to the Accountant's invoices or Gilliam's conceptual sketches. Subtitle options allow you to read the screenplay or watch with spookily appropriate captions from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part II. The second disc has lots more material, much of it very silly and inconsequential (an educational film on coconuts, the Camelot song in Lego and so on), plus a long-ish documentary from 2001 in which Palin and Jones revisit Doune Castle, Glencoe and other Scottish locations. Perhaps best of all, though, are the two scenes from the Japanese version with English subtitles, in which we see the search for the Holy sake cup, and the Ni-saying Knights who want... bonsai! --Mark Walker

A comical and delightful tale of community spirit, written by celebrated Ealing regular and Academy Award Winner T.E.B. Clarke (The Lavender Hill Mob, Barnacle Bill), directed by Charles Crichton (A Fish Called Wanda, The Lavender Hill Mob) and celebrating its 60th Anniversary, The Titfield Thunderbolt has been expertly digitally restored from the much loved, Golden Age of the Ealing Comedies. When British Railways announce the closure of the Titfield to Mallingford branch line, a group of local village residents make a bid to run it themselves, backed by a monied member of the community who is attracted by the complete lack of licensing hours on trains. Unfortunately this puts them into direct competition with the local bus company. Special Features: Making the Titfield Thunderbolt Douglas Slocombe Home Movie Footage The Lion Locomotive Featurette Locations Feaurette Stills Gallery Restoration Comparison Douglas Slocombe on Charles Crichton Audio Interview Trailer

Set in a fictitious suburb rather like, say, Pinner (only more so), The Thin Blue Line is the wickedly funny story of a rather down-at-heel police station headed by Inspector Raymond Fowler (Rowan Atkinson), a pompous, repressed but well-intentioned anachronism who wants to do the right thing but who is constantly hampered by his own shortcomings, not to mention his blundering CID colleagues. Atkinson expertly balances his character's inflated sense of self-importance with the insight born of old-school police values, for which his galumphing, shiny-suited CID counterpart, DI Grim (David Haig) has no time at all. Strongest among the supporting cast is Sgt Pauline Dawkins (Serena Evans), who also happens to be Fowler's live-in lover--a moral dilemma that his traditional values won't allow him to resolve. He salves his conscience by avoiding sex with her whenever possible, an amusing subplot enhanced by Evans's brilliant performance--she positively vibrates with contained, ladylike lust in a manner only equalled by Penelope Keith in the classic sitcom To the Manor Born. Scripted by Ben Elton, this series manages to satirise provincialism, institutionalised pig-headedness and dated moral values in one fell swoop, while also being chock-full of quick-fire, Blackadder-esque dialogue. --Roger Thomas

Screenwriter William Goldman's novel The Princess Bride earned its own loyal audience on the strength of its narrative voice and its gently satirical, hyperbolic spin on swashbuckled adventure that seemed almost purely literary. For all its derring-do and vivid over-the-top characters, the book's joy was dictated as much by the deadpan tone of its narrator and a winking acknowledgement of the clichés being sent up. Miraculously, director Rob Reiner and Goldman himself managed to visualize this romantic fable while keeping that external voice largely intact: using a storytelling framework, avuncular Grandpa (Peter Falk) gradually seduces his sceptical grandson (Fred Savage) into the absurd, irresistible melodrama of the title story. And what a story: a lowly stable boy, Westley (Cary Elwes), pledges his love to the beautiful Buttercup (Robin Wright), only to be abducted and reportedly killed by pirates while Buttercup is betrothed to the evil Prince Humperdinck. Even as Buttercup herself is kidnapped by a giant, a scheming criminal mastermind, and a master Spanish swordsman, a mysterious masked pirate (could it be Westley?) follows in pursuit. As they sail toward the Cliffs of Insanity... The wild and woolly arcs of the story, the sudden twists of fate, and, above all, the cartoon-scaled characters all work because of Goldman's very funny script, Reiner's confident direction, and a terrific cast. Elwes and Wright, both sporting their best English accents, juggle romantic fervor and physical slapstick effortlessly, while supporting roles boast Mandy Patinkin (the swordsman Inigo Montoya), Wallace Shawn (the incredulous schemer Vizzini), and Christopher Guest (evil Count Rugen) with brief but funny cameos from Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, and Peter Cook. --Sam Sutherland

The Naked Gun (Dir. David Zucker 1988): Those screw-loose Airplane! creators have done it again! Leslie Nielsen stars as Police Squad's own granite-jawed rock-brained cop Frank Drebin who bumbles across a mind-control scheme to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. Priscilla Presley O.J. Simpson a stuffed beaver two baseball teams and an odd assortment of others join the wacko goings-on and blow the laugh-o-meter to smithereens. The Naked Gun 2 1/2 - The Smell Of Fear (Dir. David Zucker 1991): Lt Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) loves a mystery. Why are we here? Is there life after sex? Yes Drebin tackles the big issues - and the biggest of all is how to stop devious Quentin Hapsburg's (Robert Goulet) plan to destroy the environment! Returning with Nielsen in this hilarious Naked Gun sequel are Priscilla Presley as Jane the woman who can melt a cheese sandwich from 20 paces and George Kennedy as intrepid Captain Ed Hocken. The gang's all here. And so are the laughs. Like Drebin you're gonna love it. The Naked Gun 33 1/3 - The Final Insult (Dir. Peter Segal 1994): Oscar night. Who will win? Who will lose? And will someone please kick that numbskull offstage? Wait! That's no ordinary numbskull. That's Lt Frank Drebin crashing the ceremonies to stop a terrorist plot that could mean curtains for him - or will a simple window shade be enough? Yes back with a hilarious three-peat and a state-of-the art advance in sequel numbering are the filmmakers you love the returning stars you adore plus others getting Naked for the first time: Fred Ward Anna Nicole Smith and more folks you'd happily give your seat to on a crowded bus. The fun begins when...oops; we don't want to give away the gags. No. You'll have to pay for them. You'll be glad you did!

They're bigger than the Loch Ness monster! Ronnie and Will two lads from Edinburgh embark on a non-violent spree of robberies. Dressing up in bizarre costumes the duo act as modern highwaymen robbing coach loads of tourists in the Highlands; eventually earning them the tag the Clown and the Wolfman. In the process they become folk heroes to the locals. Their adventures make for a whimsical and gentle comedy in the Bill Forsyth vein.

Fact me till I fart, it's The Day Today, the most outrageously satirical show ever to feature a man called Chris Morris--until Brass Eye, that is. Both savage and surreal, The Day Today heaps great steaming mounds of abuse and scorn upon our self-appointed moral guardians, upon pompous pundits, puerile newspaper headline-writers and vacuous, self-important TV presenters. And they all richly deserve it. First broadcast in 1994, the show's format is Newsnight-meets-Crimewatch in Hell. A ridiculously protracted title sequence and melodramatic headline announcements introduce Morris' demented, Jeremy Paxman-a-like anchorman, who simpers to the viewers while castigating on-air his useless reporter Peter O'Hanraha'hanrahan. The vacant Collatallie Sisters turns financial news into a Dadaist nightmare of meaningless statistics, graphically illustrated by the currency cat or the finance arse; while American journo Barbara Wintergreen's reports from Death Row are just scary and absurd enough to be completely believable. Also making his TV debut here is Steve Coogan's legendary sports caster Alan Partridge, with his appalling sports reporting, his cringe-inducing misunderstandings and his sheer blunt-headed stupidity (many of the same team, sans Morris, would reunite the following year for Knowing Me, Knowing You). Sketches such as the spoof soap "The Bureau" and the spoof docu-soap "The Pool" also betray the writing skills of Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, creators of Father Ted. On the DVD: The Day Today arrives as a two-disc set with all six episodes on the first disc. The second disc has a handful of fairly brief but still enjoyable extras: here you will find "Mini News" features in full and the complete versions of "The Pool" and "The Office" documentaries--the latter now looking like a brilliant premonition of the more famous Ricky Gervais vehicle. There's a rather dull Open University programme about the craft of TV journalism which uses extracts from The Day Today and is truthfully entitled "Po-Faced Analysis". Best of all is the complete original Pilot episode, plus a marvellous post-programme update in which Morris telephones a befuddled American McDonald's employee as if he was a crewmember of a sunken US submarine. Picture and sound quality are standard for a BBC show from the early 1990s. In summary: dispassionate. --Mark Walker

The original comedy classic available for the first time in over ten years. Dudley Moore is the amiable but timid Wimpy Bar cook Stanley who agrees to sell his soul if he can't 'make it' with the girl of his dreams waitress Eleanor Bron. Peter Cook (as Satan) provides him with seven wishes in exchange for his soul and luscious Raquel Welch (as Lust) is on hand to offer temptation... Moore is charming enough and some sly commentary on Christian morality is interesting however wh

For all its light-hearted comic interludes, Bend it like Beckham tackles contemporary issues of cultural clashes, female independence and the importance of family. Director Gurinder Chaddha tells the story of Jess Bhamra (Parminder K Nagra), a young girl brought up within the traditional boundaries of a Sikh family who manages to live out her fantasies in an uproarious way. Despite her parent's grounded roots the anglicised Jess joins the Hounslow Harriers and, with the help of her friend Jules (Keira Knightley), sneaks out of the house to follow her dream of playing alongside all-time hero David Beckham. The film draws interesting parallels between the two girls, one British and one Asian, highlighting that although their colour may be different many of their ideals are the same. Jules' British mother is no less horrified by her daughter's natural talent in soccer than Mrs Bhamra, and even mistakes one embrace between the girls as a lesbian relationship. Refreshingly, though, for once the parents are not portrayed as unreasonable: their disapproval of Jess' chosen path is a result of their concern for her, and in the end they can't help but to give in to her dreams. All in all, this is a film that shows the meaning of being British Asian today--and how it is possible for Asian girls to make round chapattis as well as to bend it like Beckham. --Anika Puri

A comedy based around the lives of pensioner pals Jack Jarvis and Victor McDade Still Game is set in and around a fictional part of Glasgow called Craiglang and Jack and Victor's home in Osprey Heights. Focusing on the ironies and comedy of old age with humour tenderness and pathos these OAPS prove they're still game for anything the world can throw at them! This DVD contains the Christmas and New year specials.

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ALL THREE OF LEE MACK'S CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED STAND-UP DVDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ONE PLACE! Join the BAFTA-winning star of NOT GOING OUT and WOULD I LIE TO YOU? In three smash hit shows, LEE MACK LIVE, LEE MACK GOING OUT and LEE MACK: HIT THE ROAD MACK. Recorded during three sold out tours, this is a chance to see one of Britain's finest stand-ups at the very top of his game.

The film which established its Swedish writer/director on the stage of world cinema, 1956's Smiles of a Summer Night is what some people would consider a contradiction in terms--an Ingmar Bergman comedy. Set in the 19th century, Smiles features Bergman stalwart Gunner Bjornstrand as Fredrik, a lawyer yet to consummate his marriage to his young wife Anne. He has hankerings after a former mistress, the voluptuous actress Desiree, who is now mistress to the bellicose Count Malcolm, whose own wife attempts to seduce Fredrik in order to make Malcolm jealous. Fredrik's wife, meanwhile, hankers after her own stepson, an austere young man confused by his repressed sexual longings. This web of romantic intrigue is eventually disentangled at a weekend party held by Desiree's mother, a formidably acerbic, fairy godmother-style figure.Smiles of a Summer Night is sparkling but mordant, stronger on absurdism than belly laughs and it is lent shade by the long shadows of existential angst. It conveys all of Bergman's core messages about human relationships but in a light, operatic bundle of cinematic joy.On the DVD: Presented in the original academy ratio, the film is restored here to its original, silvery glory. There are extensive notes from Bergman's memoirs, in which he talks candidly about the near-suicidal depression he was in when he wrote this ironically light script, as well as additional notes from critic Derek Malcolm, who aptly compares the film to a Mozart opera and Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game. --David Stubbs

Includes every episode from the TV series plus the movie! A genuine British comedy classic the popularity of Rising Damp remains unparalleled some 25 years after the first transmission. Detailing the day-to-day events at Rigsby's dingy boarding-house in which the landlord from hell Rupert Rigsby prowled around his dilapidated eyrie poking his nose into his lodgers' affairs. In the feature length movie Rigsby (Leonard Rossiter) is still intending to make Miss Jones (Frances De La Tour) his wife but she's far more interested in the intellectual and athletic Philip (Don Warrington)...